EDCI 5377 Weeks 5-6 Assignment. PowerPoint entitled "Is Your Stream Clean?" Authored by Zack Thomas

1. Is Your Stream Clean? Using Data-Mining to assess the health of a stream Zack Thomas Doctoral Student Texas Tech University-Junction http://www.ttu.edu/traditions/doublet.phpViewed 2/22/10 http://www.copusproject.org/participants/participants.php?organization_id=480Viewed 2/22/10

2. Water Quality “Check-up” How do you know if a stream is healthy? To do this, I utilized data-mining on the internet to assess the “health” of Schooner Creek in Lincoln City Oregon with the past year. So, how do you determine stream “health” you ask? By searching for… Benthic macroinvertebrates! www.graphicshunt.com viewed 2/19/10 All photos from www.epa.gov/bioindicators/html/benthosclean.html Viewed 2/19/10

3. Before we talk about data mining for macroinvertebrates, let’s Define macroinvertebrate Discuss why macroinvertebrates are important Discuss what macroinvertebrates can tell us about a stream’s “health” www.clker.comViewed 2/20/10

4. Benthic Macroinvertebrates? BENTHIC: Living or near the bottom of an aquatic environment. MACRO: Large enough to see without any aid. INVERTEBRATE: Lacking a backbone or vertebrate. So, a macroinvertebrate is a large spineless aquatic organism that likes to hang- out near the bottom. Great! So why are they important? http://edu-connect.com/science.cfm?subpage=1055550 Viewed 2/19/10

5. Indicator Species! Benthic macroinvertebrates or “benthos” are great “indicators” of stream “health” or better know as water-quality. To do this, scientists (or students) sample a stream habitat and examine the quantity and diversity of macroinvertebrates they find. All photos came from Audubon Naturalist Society www.audobon natrualist.org Viewed 2/19/10

7. live in habitat suited for their survival

8. easy to collect

9. differ in the amount and type of pollutant they can tolerate

10. easy to identify

11. have limited mobilityInformation referenced from http://www.epa.gov/bioindicators/html/invertebrate.html

12. What do macroinvertebrates tell us? Macroinvertebrates are also important with regards to assessing biological diversity. Biodiversity has both economic and aesthetic value, and is an important indicator of the overall health of the environment. (http://www.epa.gov/bioindicators/aquatic/index.html) However, There are several threats to biological diversity! http://reslife.tamu.edu/diversity/ Viewed 2/19/10

13. Threats to Biological Diversity Photos from top to bottom:http://swittersb.wordpress.com/2008/12/16/snakehead-fish-invasive-freakazoid-ban-the-sale-of-live-snakeheads-in-us/, http: //wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/tag/epa/, http://msrivertn.blogspot.com/2009/01/loosahatchie-bar.html Viewed on2/19/10. Information referenced from http://www.epa.gov/bioindicators/aquatic/index.html

14. So, why is pollution highlighted? Macroinvertebrates differ in the amount and type of pollutant they can tolerate. If we find benthos that can only live in clean water, then we know that stream “health” is good or excellent. If we find benthos that can live in polluted water, then we know that the stream “health” is fair or poor.

19. Examples of Benthic Macroinvertebrates http://www.epa.gov/bioindicators/html/leeches.html Viewed 2/19/10 Leeches Leeches are pollution tolerant. Thus, if we find leeches it is indicative that a stream is in poor “health.” Information referenced from http://www.epa.gov/bioindicators/html/leeches.html

21. So, how do we collect macroinvertebrates? Waders Water Dipnet But in our case, we will skip the outdoor experience and use data mining to collect macroinvertebrates and answer our question. http://www.auburn.edu/projects/sustainability/newsletter/020909.html 2/20/10 http://www.envcoglobal.com/catalog/product/invertebrate-nets/collapsible-dip-nets.html 2/20/10 http://www.riverbum.com/Simms-G3-Guide-Stockingfoot-Waders/ 2/20/10

22. What is Data Mining? The concept of data mining was first introduced by Bernie Dodge and Tom March by way of WebQuest (1995) (Smith, 2010). The idea is for students to use the internet to collect, analyze, and apply raw data found on the internet to answer a given question (Smith, 2010). Through hands-on, inquiry-based learning, data mining affords students the opportunity to practice various skills sets to answer questions that have real-world application (Smith, 2010)

23. Question Ok, now that you know what macroinvertebrates are, why they are important, and what they can tell us about the “health” of our streams, I ask you this question (and myself): Is Schooner Creek in Lincoln City, Oregon a healthy stream? http://edu-connect.com/science.cfm?subpage=1055550Viewed 2/20/10 Photo of Schooner Creek, Lincoln City, Oregon. http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/1092865661012208939mvy Viewded 2/21/10

24. The GLOBE Program The GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) Program launched on Earth Day, 1995. It is a global hands-on, inquiry-based education program aimed towards primary and secondary science learning (www.globe.gov). http://www.ciser.ttu.edu/outreach/globe.aspx Viewed 2/20/10 http://www.globe.gov Viewed 2/20/10

25. GLOBE Program Mission The GLOBE Program mission is to: “To promote the teaching and learning of science, enhance environmental literacy and stewardship, and promote scientific discovery.” (www.globe.gov). http://www.sthilda.ca/environmental.html Viewed 2/20/10

27. “Enhance awareness and support activities of individuals throughout the world to benefit the environment.”

28. “Contribute to scientific understanding of Earth as a system.”

29. “Connect and inspire the next generation of global scientists.” (www.globe.gov) http://www.bisconsulting.ca/seminars/goal_setting.php Viewed 2/20/10

30. GLOBE Program Vision The GLOBE Program vision is: “A worldwide community of students, teachers, scientists, and citizens working together to better understand, sustain, and improve Earth’s environment at local, regional, and global scales” (www.globe.gov). As a result, this vision promotes and supports all participants to collaborate on hands-on, inquiry-based studies on the environment (www.globe.gov). http://thegreennews.net/issues/0806.htm Viewed 2/20/10

32. Report data through the internet (this is where data-mining to answer our question comes into play!!!).

33. Publish research projects.

34. Can create maps and graphs using the GLOBE website to analyze data.

35. Collaborate with other students and scientists from around the globe (social-networking component too!!)http://kwork-aok.ning.com/ Viewed 2/20/10

36. Who’s involved and how does it work? The GLOBE Program currently has 111 participating countries, including 140 U.S. partners. Partners integrate GLOBE activities into their local and regional schools. As a result, more than 50,000 teachers in over 20,000 schools have been certified to teach GLOBE curriculum. Consequently, GLOBE students (with the help of their certified teachers of course), have submitted over 20 million measurements to the GLOBE database for use in a variety of science projects. (www.globe.gov)

37. Accessing macroinvertebrate data from GLOBE So, going back to my question, I accessed raw data from the investigations table under the hydrology section, checking the freshwater macroinvertebrates box. It looks like this: www.globe.gov

38. Accessing macroinvertebrate data from GLOBE Next, I clicked on “get the data now!” and then and the following screen appeared: www.globe.gove Viewed 2/21/10

39. Accessing macroinvertebrate data from GLOBE Next, I selected Taft elementary, Lincoln, City OR, (Taft had a decent amount of benthos data collected compared to others) and then worked my magic (simply put, I cleaned up the data) and placed: into Microsoft Excel GLOBE benthos data

41. Next in line are the mollusks, aquatic worms, crustaceans, and water the water penny beetles

42. Lastly, the damselflies, dragonflies, mayflies, midges, stoneflies, and true water bugs round out our data.http://www.epa.gov/bioindicators/html/caddisflies.htmlViewed 2/22/10 Data was collected during winter months

43. Comparison of macroinvertebrates collected from Schooner Creek Sensitive species Mayflies (n=1) Mollusks (n=7) Water penny beetles (n=2) Stoneflies (n=1) True water bugs (n=1) Water striders (n=9) Moderately tolerant species Damselflies/Dragonflies (n=1) Crustaceans (n=2) Caddisflies (n=46) Pollution Tolerant Species Aquatic worms (n=3) Midges (n=1) n= number of macroinvertebrates sampled from creek population

45. 3 macroinvertebrate species were collected that are considered moderately tolerant to pollution.

46. 2 macroinvertebrate species were collected that are considered tolerant to pollution.*Diversity refers t the variety of species collected https://rundle10.wikispaces.com/BiodiversityViewed 2/22/10

48. 49 macroinvertebrate species were collected that are considered moderately tolerant to pollution.

49. 4 macroinvertebrate species were collected that are considered tolerant to pollution.*Abundance refers to the number or amount of a certain species collected http://www.global-greenhouse-warming.com/biodiversity.htmlViewed 2/22/10

50. Conclusions So, from the data we can conclude that: We have the mostdiversity amongst the sensitive species. The least diversity amongst the tolerant species. While the moderately tolerant species are sandwiched between the two. We have the most abundance amongst the moderately tolerant species The least abundance amongst the tolerant species While the sensitive species are sandwiched between the two

51. Conclusions So, now the question is: Which is more important, species diversity or species abundance? The answer is… BOTH! Healthy ecosystem! + = http://www.global-greenhouse-warming.com/biodiversity.htmlViewed 2/22/10 https://rundle10.wikispaces.com/BiodiversityViewed 2/22/10

52. Conclusions So, finally we can answer our question and say that based on the raw data we collected from The GLOBE Program, that Schooner Creek, although not excellent, is in good health Based on the species diversity and abundance of macroinvertebrates students from Taft Elementary School collected from Schooner Creek indicates that the creek currently has good water-quality

53. Conclusions Based on the species diversity and abundance of macroinvertebrates students from Taft Elementary School collected from Schooner Creek indicates that the creek currently has good water-quality Job well done students of Taft Elemetary! You all deserve a round of http://www.philebrity.com/2009/10/08/happy-100th-day-state-budget-impasse-and-thank-you-for-killing-the-arts-tax-in-its-sleep/Viewed 2/22/10

54. References Environmental Protection Agency (2010, February 22). Invertebrates as indicators. Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/bioindicators/html/invertebrate.html Environmental Protection Agency (2010, February 22). Aquatic biodiversity-the variety of life. Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/bioindicators/aquatic/index.html Globing Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) (2010, February 22). The GLOBE Program. Retrieved from http://www.globe.gov/fsl/html/aboutglobe.cgi?intro&lang=en Smith, W. S. (2010). Weeks 5-6 of technology in science education [PowerPoint slides]. W. Smith, personal communication, February 16, 2010.